Individual counties in South Dakota now have the option to create a sales tax for their residents.
As part of the quest to lessen property taxes, a new state law began on July 1 for counties to add the half-penny sales tax. Detractors of the optional sales tax point out that it is a regressive tax that is harder for less affluent South Dakotans to pay.
Kris Jacobsen, Executive Director of the South Dakota Association of County Commissioners and County Officials, said counties are considering a change.
So far the county commissions that are considering the sales tax are in Pennington and Codington counties, according to South Dakota Public Broadcasting. It could go up for a vote this fall in Falls River County.
The measure could serve to lower property tax levies at the county and school levels. The governor’s office estimated it could reduce property taxes by 15 percent.
State Rep. Will Mortenson , of Pierre, called the measure redistribution, “from the poorest South Dakotans to the richest South Dakotans. And from the poorest counties to the richest counties."
Dollars generated from the new tax must be used to lower the county portion of homeowner occupied property taxes in the county. Money generated from the tax does not go into county budgets. Rather, it is put into a property tax reduction fund.
